Richard Oliver: Sex in the gritty

Express-News columnist Richard Oliver is part of the coverage team for the Spurs’ postseason run. He sends along his observations:

Love and basketball

The Spurs have plowed through Denver, Phoenix and Utah en route to the NBA Finals, and in the process have perhaps dismissed a longstanding perception that they play a plodding, staid brand of basketball.

Or maybe not.

Whatever the case, San Antonio’s showing has won over a few of the networks’ talking heads, including ESPN’s Greg Anthony. After last night’s deciding romp against the Jazz, Anthony crowed on NBA Shootaround that “boring is sexy.”

“The true indication of how good the Spurs are could be observed in the last 12 minutes,” he writes. “With the game already in hand, Pop had five bench-warmers on the court: Matt Bonner, Jacque Vaughn, Brent Barry, Beno Udrih and Francisco Elson.

“Even with the Spurs 25-plus points to the good the scrubs shunned garbage time. Instead they didn’t miss a screen, didn’t make sloppy passes, always undertook aggressive cuts, hustled after every loose ball, never forced a shot or botched a defensive rotation, and played with the kind of precision, awareness and unselfishness that would be characteristic of a good team playing in a tight ball game.

“Asked to explain how the Spurs have positioned themselves to play for a third championship in five years and fourth in nine years, Pop said: ‘That’s an easy equation. It is David Robinson followed by Tim Duncan.’ It is a lot more than that, actually, but you know the Spurs. They’re so annoying modest, which is yet another reason — along with the alleged flops, chops and other Uglyball tactics that they use when necessary — that this team gets tagged with all the boring stuff.

“Take a closer look, though, and you’ll note that the Spurs cracked 100 points on this night for the sixth time in the last two series, reinforcing their growing Play At Any Pace reputation. They have Duncan looking reborn at 31 — dominating anew largely because he’s as healthy as he’s been in years — and flanked by a seasoned Tony Parker (25) and an increasingly spry Manu Ginobili, who’s healthier himself at 29 than he seemed just weeks ago.

“Mix in the role players who snap together so nicely — Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley, Robert Horry and Ginobili’s increasingly effective countryman Fabricio Oberto — and there’s little mystery why San Antonio will be comfortably favored to take down whoever wins the East.”

At CBS Sportsline, columnist Tony Mejia gives his take on the boring Spurs: “On a day when Kobe Bryant sabotaged the basketball world with his mind games, the best team in basketball went out and handled its business quietly and efficiently. This is a team most of you call boring, right? Not fun to watch?

“Boring just won its third Western Conference crown in five years with a 109-84 victory in Game 5.”

“TrueHoop reader Terremoto sent me an email that makes it frightfully clear to me how Tim Duncan needs to be marketed to the world: as a wizard,” Abbott opines. “I’m serious! Terremoto writes:

‘Tim Duncan is the NBA’s first superstar nerd. I find it very interesting that Tim Duncan’s off the court pursuits include sword and knife collecting, Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy videogames & paintball. Add to that, dude’s got a freakin’ tattoo of Merlin from Arthurian lore! His other tat is of a Skeleton Jester. No barbed wire or homages to dead relatives here. Just pure (and endearing) D&D nerdcore.’

“Another NERDCORE story: He wanted his nickname to be ‘Merlin’ when he first got to the league, but his teammates weren’t having it.”

Perhaps the Nuggets, Suns and Jazz are, however.

Still No. 1

The Spurs still rank No. 1 on Fox Sports’ “Daily Dime,” though it appears to be grudging.

“Hate Manu Ginobili all you want (and the vast majority of the Dime office does), but he’s a very good player and he helps his team win championships,” they note. “And how tough has Tony Parker had it this postseason? First Iverson, then Nash, now Williams. And most likely after this, Chauncey Billups.”

“But c’mon. If they deserved a better ending, they all should have done something to make it happen,” he writes. “The same guys who beat Houston in two elimination games this month delivered the worst finale in Jazz playoff history. Was this really all they had left, all the interest they could summon in an attempt to properly finish the season?”

Indeed, in the aftermath, Jazz stars Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer were unhappy, and the Tribune stresses “the offseason might be a bumpy ride.” Interestingly, the Suns’ franchise is dealing with pressing questions, as well.

The Spurs, apparently, lay waste to more than the scoreboard.

In his game story, Tribune beat writer Michael Lewis has a great description of the Spurs’ showing: “savagely efficient.”